The Ancient Parish of HALIFAX

[Transcribed information mainly from the early 1820s]

"HALIFAX, a market and parish-town, in Morley-division of Agbrigg and Morley,
liberty of Wakefield, 8 miles from Bradford and Huddersfield, 10 from
Dewsbury, 12 from Keighley and Todmorden, 16½ from Rochdale, (Lanc.) 18 from
Leeds, 42 from York, 197 from London. Market, Saturday, for woollen cloth,
provisions, &c. Fairs, June 24 and the first Saturday in November, for
horses, horned cattle, &c. Bankers, Messrs. John Rawson, William Rawson,
John Rhodes, and Rawden Briggs, draw on Messrs. Jones, Lloyd, and Co. 48,
Lothbury. Principal Inns, Talbot, White Swan, and White Lion. Pop.
12,628. There are two Churches here, the one is a vicarage, dedicated to St.
John the Baptist, in the deanry of Pontefract, value, £84. 13s. 6½d.
Patron, the King. The other is called the Holy Trinity Church, a perpetual
curacy, value, p.r. ~£100. in the patronage of the Vicar of Halifax. The
latter was built under the sanction of an act of parliament by
Dr. Coulthurst, the late Vicar; the masonry of which, like all modern masonry
about the town, is excellent and elaborate."
(There is further information for Halifax).

Information on the following places in
this Parish is contained on a supplementary page.

Lister Lane cemetery, Halifax, is the last resting place for many eminent
and influential people who helped to shape the growth of Halifax and played
an active part in political reform and social change The Crossleys of Dean
Clough, Ben Rushton (a popular Chartist), JD Taylor (Halifax Building
Society) JH Whitley (Speaker of the House of Commons) and many other local
people. There were approximately 13,000 burials on the site and a database
has been compiled; for information on the database,
please turn on Java Script (scripting) to get the email address.

St. Paul's at Cross Stone: A full transcription of all the grave occupants, complete
with a surname index. This church and burial ground served the folk of Langfield and
Stansfield as a chapel of ease to Halifax Parish Church, and a sister church to Heptonstall.
There are literally thousands of graves as the burial ground is still in use.
The work of transcribing all the graves was done by Todmorden enthusiasts Robert Priestley
and Jean and David Uttley. It took about 25 years!

The Monumental Inscriptions for
Halifax St. Paul's have been transcribed by
Susan Johnson and Indexed by Patricia Hayward.

Monumental inscriptions of the Sutcliffe stones at
Heptonstall St. Thomas by Melanie Whitehead.
If you can add any to these and would like them on the Genuki site, please let me (Colin Hinson) know.

New Road School was established in 1837 for non-denominational RI teaching,
with Sunday evening services conducted by Baptists, Methodists and Independents.
It was used as a day school in 1851 and later taken over as a British School until
it became a Board School in 1881. It closed as a school in 1912 when Carr Green
School opened, and is now a non-denominational chapel.[Humphrey Bolton 2006]

An
Index of marriages covering the period 5 April 1754 to 31 December 1812
has been produced by Steve Whitwam from the records of The Elland Church
or Chapelry. included are many marriages of people from neighbouring parishes.

The Piece Hall, Halifax, with the spire of Square Congregational Church showing behind (opened 1857, built to
accommodate the ever growing congregation of Square Chapel next door [which became the Sunday School].

Crossley Grammar School. The Building was first known as the Crossley & Porter Orphanage.
Then it became the Crossley & Porter Grammar Schools (ie boys' & girls').
It has since become known as the Crossley Heath School after the merger with Heath Grammar School.[David Stacey, Feb. 2005]

Sue has also supplied some photographs of buildings in the Halifax area:

Holdsworth House, Holmfield (transcribed from "
Ancient Halls of Halifax"):
Passing up the main read from Holmfield Station to the district known as Holdsworth,
attention is attracted by iron gates at the entrance to the remains of what was once
an avenue. This leads to Holdsworth House, a fine relic of old-time architecture,
the external appearance, except for the ivy-covered front, being little changed from
the original design. The southern and western gateways are interesting studies, and
the house itself, built in three gables, is an imposing structure. A stone over the
western gate bears the date 1680, but it is thought the house dates back to 1598. A
cross, over one of the south gables, indicates that it was at one time part of the
possessions of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

Websters Maltings, Ovenden Wood:
An awful lot of money was spent on converting these
maltings to offices, and then they closed the brewery down and
they have been empty ever since. Nobody seems to know what is
going to happen to it. At least it's a listed building so
they can't pull it down.

Websters Brewery, Ovenden Wood:
A very sad photo of what was once a bustling industry, now it's
just left there, rotting away, with a security man patrolling it
every now and then.

Long Cann is one of two houses in Ovenden Wood, both built about the same time,
one is owned privately and this one by the brewery. It was restored - cost
a lot of money - and used as a museum and reception centre until the brewery
closed down. It was stripped of its museum bits but the central heating is
kept on and security guards check it. Again what is going to happen to it
no one knows.

A transcription of a paper presented by Mr H P Kendall to the Halifax Antiquarian Society
in 1906 giving extracts from the accounts of the
Sowerby Constables.
This includes a full list of the constables.